Thanksgiving photos
Out with my sister for forest fungi pizza and chocolate cake :) Then later walking around in the yard taking photos.
The Chrysanthemums are blooming ...
Looking up at the oaks ....
One of the kitties under a tree ...
The sun low behind the pines ...
The Chrysanthemums are blooming ...
Looking up at the oaks ....
One of the kitties under a tree ...
The sun low behind the pines ...
posted by crystal | 2:40 PM
8 Comments:
Happy Thanksgiving, Crystal! I love your oak picture. And the kitty! What kitties are these? Yours? (She asks hopefully.) Someone else's?
Hi Susan,
Happy Thanksgiving :)
She is one of the 10 stray cats that are living in my yard .... argh! I'm feeding them and I've made a cat door in the garage so they can go in there, but I don't know what to do about them. Every agency I've contacted won't take them or help with finding them homes. A couple of the cats are pretty friendly and some are kind of friendly, but the others are fairly wild. None of them are neutered or spayed that I know of. My nightmare come true :(
See if you can find Alley Cat Allies in your area. Or ask around (vet, animal shelter, etc.) to see if someone does trap (and spay) and release, or if there's a free or low-cost spay/neuter program for feral cats. Sometimes they'll clip one ear to show that the cat is feral and neutered. Without spaying/neutering, your 10 will soon become 200....
There are a few places here that will trap and neuter them, but the details don't sound very good. I have to stop feeding the cats so they'll be hungry enough to go into a trap. the person leaves the trap at night, when the possum, the skunk, and the raccoons here might get caught, and then if a cat is caught it has to be in the trap all night.
Then they take it to this far away place, the County or the SPCA, where the cat stays in its cage for days while it waits its turn to be operated on. Given that there are 10 cats that need to be trapped and that all my neighbor's cats might also get trapped by mistake and that these cats are afraid of strangers, this will be a long and torturous experience for us all.
I asked if someone could just help me catch one cat at a time in the daytime for appointments for neutering but they had no volunteers to help me. I tried a few times with my sister's help to catch the most friendly ones to take to the vet but they were too wild.
Meanwhile other cats keep appearing - there's no way to keep them out of the yard. When the four kittens now about six months old first appeared, the feral cat people wouldn't even take them to find homes for them. A few months later another cay and her kittens appeared. The SPCA and PETA suggested I have them all euthanized since being a feral cat is such an awful life. The County will only euthanize them. The non kill shelters are permanently filled up.
I hate all these organizations now that I gave money to for so long because I thought they actually helped :(
PS - as the feral cat people were rhapsodizing to me about how much they help by trapping for neutering, they ignored me saying that I didn't want to have a feral cat sanctuary in my yard, that my neighbors don't like it, that there's no help for the cats when they get injured or sick. They ignored me when I explained that I'm almost blind and can barely see the cats, that my back is hurt and I can't even pick them up, that I can't drive them to the vet because I have no car and can't drive, that I'm at the poverty line as feeding 10 cats, not to mention vet bills, is getting beyond what I can afford.
Sorry - I just feel overwhelmed by the situation and there doesn't seem to be any help.
It absolutely is overwhelming, Crystal. I feel bad for you and the cats. Animal welfare has attracted a mix of people, some of them quite abrasive--offensive, even. I hear about it all the time. I wish I had a workable solution for you.
Sorry, Susan ;) Didn't mean to vent at you. I was especially worked up about it today because one of the cats has been limping and may have to go to the vet. I must learn to relax!
No need to apologize . . . I know it's a tough situation to be in. Highly charged with emotion. It's hard to be a caring person sometimes.
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